Home Ministry to probe if Tehelka violated law

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 23. The Government today told Parliament that the Union Home Ministry would hold an inquiry into whether the news portal tehelka.com had violated the law in conducting its sting operation, and that ``strong action'' would be taken against it, if found guilty.

The Government's response came at the end of an impromptu discussion in the Lok Sabha on newspaper reports that the news portal had adopted ``immoral and illegal methods'' to expose corruption in defence deals. The Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr. Pramod Mahajan, said, ``while journalists have every right to gather news, they cannot do it by breaking the law, no one including MPs or journalists is above the law, and if it is found that they broke the rules strong action will be taken against them.''

For the second successive day, the Lok Sabha witnessed angry scenes on the alleged use of women as ``honeytraps'' by tehelka.com in its bid to expose corruption in defence deals. Both the Opposition and the Government used the opportunity to reiterate their positions. The Opposition led by the Congress renewed the demand for a JPC probe into the issue of corruption and the ``reprehensible and abhorrent'' means adopted by the portal. Mr. Mahajan, in his response, sought to give a clean chit to the former Defence Minister, Mr. George Fernandes, saying ``in my opinion he is innocent though it will be finally decided by the Justice Venkataswami Commission''.

The issue was raised by the former Prime Minister, Mr. S. Chandra Shekhar, who accused the portal of adopting ``immoral and undignified means'' to get information. The portal's actions would lower the nation's prestige. ``How is it a national duty, when it defames and lowers the nation's prestige?''

'Reprehensible means'

In a forceful presentation, the Congress Deputy Leader, Mr. Madhavrao Scindia, called for a JPC to probe the ``operation'' and punish those involved in corruption, as well the ``reprehensible'' means adopted by tehelka.com. He, however, pointed out that the ``abhorrent means'' adopted by the portal should not be used as an excuse to ``obliterate the revelations on corruption and the involvement of some very important and powerful people shown on video earlier''.

Mr. Scindia was supported by the CPI(M)'s Mr. Somnath Chatterjee, who described the manner of disclosure as ``objectionable'' and said the Government was welcome to take any action as permitted by the law. But he came down heavily on the defence personnel involved in corruption and shown on video; ``what about those who fell into the trap and breached national security''.

The Samata party's Mr. Prabhunath Singh and Mr. Brahmanand Mandal alleged that ``sting operation'' was part of a conspiracy to destabilise the nation and called for the arrest of the journalists involved. Mr. Mandal blamed the Congress for instigating tehelka.com into carry out the operation.

Furore in RS

In the Rajya Sabha, the attempts by Mr. Rajiv Ranjan Singh `Lallan' (Samata), to raise the issue through a special mention resulted in a furore and a brief adjournment before lunch. The Opposition members led by the Congress objected to the mentioning of a newspaper's name even as the BJP members joined the issue. While the Samata member swiftly agreed to drop naming the paper, the Congress members insisted that the procedural problem remained.

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